


Careful

by camichats



Series: Imagine James and Sirius Prompts [22]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Background Remus/Regulus, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mafia AU, Marriage Proposal, Mild Sexual Content, Relationship Problems, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 11:01:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12456268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Sirius wants to spend the rest of his life with James, but their relationship is... rocky because of Sirius's work.





	Careful

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: “Hello, could you write a mafia au fic which full of fluff and angst (and no voldemort too)? Thank you so much <3”
> 
> Originally posted on [tumblr](https://imaginejamesandsirius.tumblr.com/post/166646186645/hello-could-you-write-a-mafia-au-fic-which-full)

Sirius woke slowly, warm and comfortable, with every intention of going right back to sleep. He would have, too, if James hadn’t nibbled on his earlobe and let his hand drift lower on Sirius’s abdomen. “Morning.”

“Do the words ‘lie-in’ mean anything to you?” Sirius grumbled. He needed his sleep, especially since he had been out late last night working-- though it’s not like James knew that (hopefully, at least, Sirius had done his level best to sneak in without waking him).

“Of course they do,” he said mildly, sounding far too awake to be innocent. “And that’s what this is.” He slipped his hand in Sirius’s pants. “No alarms, no places to be, just us, in bed, having a good time.”

Afterwards, he did fall asleep again, but only for an hour. All the same, he felt well-rested, but he wasn’t about to say that in so many words to James-- it would only make it worse and then he _really_ wouldn’t get any sleep in the future.

Sirius stretched, contently feeling his muscles pull and settle. He padded over and picked up his bag, heading to the loo to change.

James looked sad when he saw it. “I thought you had the day off.”

“Just the morning,” Sirius said, leaving his bag just inside the loo before he headed over to give James a kiss.

James caught his hand when he turned to leave. “Can’t you stay?”

“Babe--”

“You work every day, you stay out late, have to get up early, I- I feel like I never see you.” James sighed raggedly, letting go of Sirius’s hand. “I know your work is important to you, but you don’t _have_ to be there every hour of every day, do you?”

Sirius closed his eyes, taking a measured breath. “Are we really going to fight about this again?” When he opened his eyes again, he wasn’t looking at James.

“I guess not,” James said, something there in his tone that Sirius didn’t recognise and that frightened him.

“Look, I’ll- I’ll see if I can get off early tonight, and we can talk then. Okay?” He waited until James nodded, though he didn’t look happy about it. He swallowed. “I love you.” He didn’t wait for a response this time because he knew that James wasn’t going to say it back right now.

It was harder than it usually was, to strap on his various weapons, especially his shoulder holsters, which were only hidden by his suit jacket. But he did, all the same. Regulus needed him, and while he could survive without him, there was no one trained to do Sirius’s part that could immediately take over for him.

With every passing day though, he more seriously considered asking Reg if he could leave. The fact of the matter was that James was more important to him than helping maintain the Black Family’s empire, and while he didn’t _want_ to stop, he would if it meant he got to keep James, and James… Sirius wanted him in his future, had bought an engagement ring a couple months ago, but knew he couldn’t give it to him without coming clean. And then James would leave.

Sirius shook his head to try and clear it of those thoughts. If he kept thinking about this, he wouldn’t get any work done. He lingered before leaving the flat, looking at James and trying to think of what he could say, but came up blank. “We’ll talk tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

Remus sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get anything done for a while. “Alright, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Sirius snapped, not caring that he was proving Remus right.

“Problems at home?” he asked loftily because he’s an arse and if Sirius was going to be rude to him, he might as well get something out of it.

“Don’t think that just because you’re shagging my brother I won’t shoot you.”

Bingo. Remus snorted derisively, which was fair. Even if Reg and Remus weren’t together, attacking their best bodyguard would be counterproductive. And besides Sirius didn’t shoot that many people-- that was the Wolf’s job.

Sirius clenched the pen he was holding tighter in his hand. “James is getting suspicious.”

“So tell him.”

“I can’t tell him!”

“Then dump him.”

Sirius glared at him. “Dumping him is the _opposite_ of a solution.”

Remus shrugged and Sirius doubled down on his glare. “Talk to Regulus if you want advice.”

“I didn’t ask for your advice, you offered it.”

“And you should’ve known well enough to recognise it was a terrible idea to listen.” Remus pointed towards the door. “He should be in the study.”

Sirius didn’t bother protesting, just dropped the pen and left. Regulus was indeed in the study. He took one look at Sirius and put away the papers he was looking at, bookmarked his spot and gave Sirius his full attention. “Business issue or personal?”

“Personal.”

“Ah.” Regulus took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. He set them down and headed for the table of liquor. “You want anything?”

“No.” He sat on the armchair next to Regulus’s, slouching because here it was just the two of them. He took off his jacket and holster, carefully folding them over the arm.

Reg sat back down, careful of his tumbler full of whiskey. “So. James?”

“No, Remus,” he said sarcastically. He sighed, letting his hair down and running a hand through it.

“Another fight?”

“Not… quite.” He sighed again, burying his face in his hands. “It wasn’t supposed to be this complicated.”

“You’re with someone outside the organisation, this could _only_ be complicated,” Regulus said, but his tone was understanding. It had been relatively easy for him, falling for someone he already trusted and knew the most important aspects of his life.

“I’m quitting.”

Regulus froze. “What?”

Sirius looked at his brother, sad but determined. “I can’t lose him, Reg. I can’t.”

“You don’t have to _leave_ , we can figure something out. Delegate a few responsibilities so your hours are less, and--”

“Reg.”

He stopped, swallowing down his panic compulsively and staring into his glass. “I can’t lose you either, you know. Are you- are you sure you have to quit?” He lifted his gaze, eyes desperate.

Sirius leaned forward, putting his hand on Regulus’s arm. “I don’t want to, but- it’s the only solution I can think of.”

“Why don’t you tell him?” Sirius shook his head, but Reg continued on. “He loves you, Sirius, he might be okay with it.”

“That’s a very big ‘might’. I’m not willing to risk it.”

“Okay.” Regulus set his glass down and turned to Sirius fully. “Let’s say you quit, get some nine to five job, and never tell him. How long will you last in that? You love this, Sirius, even when Orion was in charge you couldn’t stay away, and you hated him. So tell me: how long will your uneventful, domestic life keep you satisfied?”

...Sirius crumpled. Regulus got out of his chair to give him an awkwardly angled half-hug. “He’ll leave.”

“If you don’t do anything, he’ll leave anyways.”

* * *

Sirius wanted to procrastinate, wanted to stay as long as he could so he could put off talking to James. He didn’t though, knowing that if he stayed late James would be in a bad mood, and he _had_ promised to try and get home earlier than usual.

He hadn’t thought about how often he stayed late for work until James had brought it up the first time, and then again now, seeing how surprised James was to see him. He hadn’t truly realised how that affected his boyfriend.

“You’re home early,” he said, something close to awe in his voice.

“I said I would be.” Sirius started taking off his shoes.

“No, you said you would try.” James’s tone made it clear how well _that_ had worked in the past.

Sirius spent some time making sure his shoes were exactly straight where they were sat next to James’s, as if James wouldn’t see right through that. “Well. I made it this time.”

James sighed, sounding dangerously close to telling Sirius that yeah, he loved him, but he couldn’t do this anymore. “Baby you can’t make one good gesture one time and think it’ll solve everything.”

“I know.” Sirius sat on the couch next to him, taking his hand in both of his own and studying his face. “You know I love you, right?”

James nodded. “That’s not what has ever been in question.”

It was more serious than either of them usually were, but this was the most serious conversation they’d ever needed to have. “Do you remember when we met- you made a joke about me being part of the Black Family?”

“Yes,” he said slowly.

Sirius took off his jacket, showing the firearms underneath.

“Shit,” James said, leaning back slightly, and this- this right fucking here is why Sirius had said it was a terrible idea. “You’re-- is that safe?”

Thrown, Sirius just said, “Er, the guns? I mean… they’re guns.” When James continued to stare at him, he added, “There’s only so safe they can be.”

“I guess I’ll take what I can get,” James said, now eyeing the weapons as if he were afraid they’d suddenly hurt Sirius-- and wasn’t _that_ a twist. Sirius had been sure James would think he was going to hurt him, no matter how ridiculous the thought would have been. “So you’re in the mafia?”

Sirius blinked. “Mob, actually. The mafia is strictly Italian, and I’m not, so.”

“And your brother and his boyfriend, they are too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. Not gonna lie, I feel a little left out.”

That startled a laugh out of Sirius. “You’re not mad or scared or- or anything?”

“I’m a little scared,” he admitted. “Being in the mafia can’t be very safe for you. Mob, sorry,” he corrected, holding up a hand as if Sirius would be offended at the mix-up.

“No, I mean… you’re okay with this?”

“It’s- well, honestly it explains a lot.” James made a face. “Like why you’re working so much. Guess that’s not changing.”

“I can be home a little bit more,” he offered. “There’s,” he sighed, “a lot of paperwork, things to read that I don’t need to be there for. I just couldn’t bring them home before because you didn’t know.”

“Oh,” James said, looking relieved. “So you can- start that soon?”

“Yeah.” Sirius scoot a bit closer to him, petting a hand through James’s hair. “You really don’t mind?” he asked, needing to make sure.

“No, I don’t mind.”

* * *

A few weeks later, things were going well between them, and Sirius was adjusting surprisingly well to not working 24/7. “Hey babe?” Sirius called out. “Is my bag in there?”

“Yeah!”

“Could you grab my gum? It should be in the largest section.”

“Your gun?”

Sirius rolled his eyes, wanting to laugh at the dread in James’s voice-- he didn’t like touching guns, always convinced it would magically go off while he was holding it. “Gum,” he yelled back, over-pronouncing the ‘m’. “Y’know that minty stuff you chew?”

“Oh, gum! Yeah one sec.”

Sirius snorted, smiling absently down at the money-record for one of their restaurants-- a little more money was going in than planned. It would never stop being funny that there were regular people who frequented their covers. He wondered if they knew, but didn’t mind.

James slowly shuffled back into the room, causing Sirius to look up in concern. “You okay?” he started to ask, cutting off abruptly when he saw what James was holding-- a little black velvet ring box that Sirius had put into his bag shortly after buying because he didn’t want James to accidentally stumble upon it. “Ah.”

James rubbed his thumb over the top of it, but was looking at Sirius. “When were you planning on asking?”

Sirius shrugged, shoulders tight, as he moved the report off of his lap.

“You bought an engagement ring without knowing when you were going to ask?” he asked, disbelieving.

“I bought it before you knew what I did for a living, I couldn’t ask you to marry me _then_.”

James narrowed his eyes and walked closer to the couch. “How long ago did you buy this?”

“Er. Couple months.”

James sat in his lap and kissed him. “You’re a dumbarse,” he muttered against his lips. He kissed him again and shoved the box against Sirius’s chest. “If you don’t ask me now, I won’t get back up for your gum.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “You want me to propose and then go back to work?”

James sighed. “Just ask me, you berk.”

“Marry me?”

“That was the worst proposal ever,” James declared, but held his hand out when Sirius picked up the ring to put it on his finger. “And yes, I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a prompt driven blog @[imaginejamesandsirius](https://imaginejamesandsirius.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Please send in a prompt of your own!


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